Innovative Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Bacteriophage Research: A New Chapter in Future Medicine

Abstract

As the crisis of antibiotic resistance escalates, phage therapy has regained attention as an alternative strategy. Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies offer new avenues to overcome the bottlenecks inherent in traditional bacteriophage research. This review summarizes the multi-dimensional innovative applications of machine learning, deep learning, and large biological models in phage studies. In the fields of phage recognition and genomics, support vector machines (SVMs), convolutional neural networks (CNNs), and pre-trained protein language models can all achieve recognition accuracy rates of over 90%. Furthermore, tools such as DeepHost and VirSorter2 can efficiently identify phage sequences, annotate functional genes, and predict hosts at the species or strain levels. For clinical translation, AI integrates patient characteristics, bacterial phenotypes, and phage profiles to customize cocktail regimens for individualized phage therapy. Graph neural network-based models like DeepPBI-KG integrate multi-omics knowledge graphs to precisely predict phage-host interactions (PHIs), whereas agent-based simulation and defense protein predictors forecast phage resistance evolution. Additionally, generative AI can support the de novo design of functional phage genomes and mine massive unannotated virome dark matter. Nevertheless, this cross-disciplinary field faces significant constraints, including uneven and biased sequencing datasets, insufficient model interpretability, and dual-use biosafety ethical risks accompanied by unclear algorithm accountability and incomplete global supervision systems. Future research should optimize standardized multimodal databases, develop explainable AI algorithms, and establish cross-disciplinary ethical governance frameworks to facilitate closed-loop verification between computational prediction and wet-lab experiments. In conclusion, the deep integration of AI and phage biology provides revolutionary strategies to tackle multidrug-resistant infections and advances the clinical transformation of phage precision medicine.